A black box recorder could provide some insight into Saturday afternoon's fatal crash involving a bus carrying a women's hockey team from Windsor, Ont., the bus company said Monday.

Four people were killed when the bus slammed into a tractor-trailer truck near Geneseo, N.Y., about 40 kilometres south of Rochester.

The victims were the coach of the Windsor Wildcats, Richard Edwards, 46; his 13-year-old son Brian; Catherine Roach, 50, a mother of one of the hockey players; and the truck driver, Ernest Zeiset, 42, of Pennsylvania.




Coach Canada officials said Monday that they will study the contents of the black box, which is similar to that carried by airplanes to record information that could help determine the cause of crashes.

Among other things, bus company spokesperson Lee Schissler said, the box would have recorded the speed at which the bus was travelling at the time of the crash.

Schissler said the 25-year-old driver of the bus, who was also injured in the crash, is devastated by what happened.

Hockey players on way to ski resort

The Wildcats had played a game in Rochester earlier Saturday. Some members of the team were on their way to a ski resort when the bus collided with the tractor-trailer truck.

The truck's driver had parked the vehicle underneath an overpass on the side of the highway while he let his dogs out to run around.

Police say the bus swerved and rear-ended the tractor-trailer, killing the driver instantly.

"There was people everywhere, screaming. People jumping out of the windows of the bus. We tried to gain access to the bus, and I met people there who were just begging me and anyone there to help them and try to get them out," said volunteer fireman Bill Mills, who was the first on the scene.

The bus was almost split into two by the impact.

Three members of the team remain in intensive care in a Rochester hospital. Doctors say their injuries are not life threatening.

Bus driver may have hit something on road

Maj. Steve White of the New York State Police said Sunday that investigators have spoken to the driver. "He mentioned to us yesterday something to the effect [that he may have] struck something and we're still investigating that.

"There's a possibility, of course, that he may have simply fallen asleep. We don't know," said White.

The bus driver had started his day at 3:30 in the morning – more than 12 hours before the accident happened.